Tag: Unbelievable Corruption

Kwame Kilpatrick appears to be in a revolutionary mood, which is totally understandable. I mean, he was “the Hip-Hop Mayor.” He was a rising star in his political party. He was simply trying to do the people’s business and continue Detroit’s renaissance. And let’s be honest: each and every one of us knows that when you do the people’s business, it’s just naturally going to involve some light fraud, extortion, kickbacks and bribes. That’s just the way things roll. And when the government gets in your face and tries to stop you from doing the people’s business, well… sometimes a man has to namecheck Ghandi and MLK:

Since his indictment on corruption charges, Kwame Kilpatrick’s official Twitter account has extolled civil disobedience.

The messages evoke Ghandi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. and mention the American Revolution and the students at Tiananmen Square.

“When government acts against the interests of its people, disobedience may be warranted,” read a message. “When government acts in a hateful manner, disobedience may be warranted.”

Kilpatrick was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday for allegedly turning City Hall into a criminal enterprise. His father, Bernard, and three associates also were charged with corruption.

…Two messages a day have been posted since the indictment Wednesday.

“We must obey God rather than men,” read a message on the day of the indictment.

“People may be compelled to disobey the law under two types of responsibility — moral and spiritual,” said a message the next day.

Clearly, the laws against fraud and extortion in this country are totally immoral and unjust. After all, they’re now being used to keep this young, promising African-American politician from supporting his family and spending some good father-son bonding time with his dad. It’s just sad.

[US Attorney Barbara McQuade] Explaining why the case is being prosecuted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute: “Because it fits the kind of crimes the RICO statute was intended for. The pattern of racketeering activity we have here involves bribery, extortion, fraud and tax violations. And it went on over a long period of time. The administration of Kwame Kilpatrick conducted a thorough enterprise, so I think all the hallmarks of a racketeering conspiracy were there.”

federal grand jury today indicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father and three former top aides on racketeering charges, accusing them of turning the mayor’s office into a criminal enterprise to enrich themselves, families and friends.

Besides the now-jailed former mayor, the 38-count indictment names his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, city contractor Bobby Ferguson, former top Kilpatrick aide Derrick Miller and former water department chief Victor Mercado in one of the largest public corruption investigations ever in the City of Detroit…

…The 89-page indictment outlined four general areas of misconduct.

It said the defendants extorted money from municipal contractors, state and non-profit donors and engaged in bribery and extortion involving other public contracts and investments.

As a friend who hails from SE Michigan reminds me, the only people who are left in Detroit are those who can’t afford to leave. You can imagine what happens to the voter base when the situation gets that bad. Hence, they elect crooks like Kilpatrick and the city enters the final phase of its death spiral.

But I gotta remember: He didn’t just get up in here by just comin’; y’all sent him up in here! So I gotta be careful ’bout how I talk about yawz boi…